Earth Quaker Action Team
Earth Quaker Action Team, EQAT (pronounced “equate”), is a grassroots, nonviolent action group including Quakers and people of diverse beliefs, who join with millions of people around the world fighting for a just and sustainable economy. Website: eqat.org.
- Earth Quaker Action Team April 2021
Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) launched the Power Local Green Jobs campaign in September 2015 to push Pennsylvania’s largest utility, PECO, to make a significant shift toward solar, prioritizing job creation in Black and Brown communities, which have been most affected by the fossil fuel economy. Within months, PECO set up “Solar Stakeholder Collaborative” meetings that helped the company realize the level of interest in the region, as well as the grievances of solar contractors. Based on those meetings, PECO has eased the solar application process, upgraded the grid to be more solar-ready, and hired a team to work specifically on solar.
PECO also made a significant investment in the Philadelphia Energy Authority’s solar work and donated $100,000 to a North Philadelphia-based job training program, though only some of that money went to solar training. PECO announced recently that it’s seeking proposals for local solar projects. While EQAT is pleased with this movement, much more action is needed, especially given the urgency of climate change and environmental racism.
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Continue reading → - Earth Quaker Action Team October 2020
Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) continues to “nonviolently confront the people who benefit from the current energy system, boldly challenging them to turn away from fossil fuels.”
The current campaign urges the utility PECO in the Delaware Valley to catch up to neighboring states in its generation of solar beyond the current less than 0.5 percent. EQAT has shown up at the utility’s offices, at shareholder meetings—and now, even as the pandemic has shifted some of its ability for direct action, EQAT continues to find ways to demonstrate concerns and push for a just future and local solar.
Five years ago it was known that 20 percent local solar by 2025 was possible, as long as PECO did the work. This year as PECO rolled out its action plan for providing electricity for the next few years, EQAT joined others to protest at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission that the plan does not measure up.
EQAT is also lifting up the need to support ratepayers in need, making sure that ratepayers don’t leave the pandemic with utility bill debt. In keeping with its belief that investment priorities should focus on caring for the earth and those in need, EQAT continues to push PECO to shift its investment from fossil to green.
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